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A melee ensued near the end of a Jan. 13, 2013, game between the midget Woodstock Jr. Navy Vets and Brantford 99ers at Southwood Arena that saw Woodstock player Nick Major have his helmet ripped off and punched repeatedly, resulting in a broken nose, cuts, bruises and a concussion. The Brantford player, whose name can't be released under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, appeared for his first court hearing Thursday morning.

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A Brantford hockey player charged with assault causing bodily harm made his first appearance in court Thursday morning.

The court appearance was brief, running less than five minutes, and was adjourned to continue on Aug. 15, at 9:30 a.m. at the Woodstock courthouse.

Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the 17-year-old Brantford player facing charges can’t be named. He was charged under section 267(b) of the Criminal Code on June 25, 2013.

The Brantford teen’s lawyer, mother and father, along with five friends, joined him in the courtroom.

He briefly smiled at his friends before the justice of the peace entered the room while his parents and lawyer looked towards the front of the court. He was briefly called before the justice of the peace with his lawyer before the case was adjourned.

The incident being heard stems from a Jan. 13, 2013, midget ‘A’ game between the Brantford 99ers and the Woodstock Jr. Navy Vets when a melee ensued between a Brantford player and Nick Major.

Major was cross-checked, had his helmet ripped off and repeatedly punched in the face, resulting in a concussion, broken nose, bruises and cuts. Both were suspended, but Major’s was later reversed due to video evidence while the Brantford player given an additional three games on his original four game suspension.

Following a police investigation, the Crown attorney’s office charged the Brantford player.

Although the incident has garnered national attention, Richard McLaren, a professor of law at Western University specializing in sports law who’s participated as an arbitrator in five Olympic Games, said the case is unlikely to set precedent within the legal system towards minor hockey.

“The normal circumstances are, when you play a sport with a certain level of violence, like hockey, you, as a player, have agreed to play in a sport that’s physical and rough,” he said in a phone interview from New York.

“Usually the police stay out of it and let the league and club govern itself,” he said. “At some point though, you cross the line and the state can intervene because the assault caused bodily harm.”

Though it was his first appearance, McLaren said the case could take up to two years and, if found guilty, the punishment could vary.

“They could subsequently suspend him from playing for a set time, which is fairly significant to be excluded from any organized hockey at that age,” he added. “More than likely, the case will be withdrawn, won’t be proven or a minor fine like community service.”

Tony Martindale, the Alliance executive director, said the ongoing case is an opportunity for the minor hockey association to learn and ensure incidents like this are prevented.

“As soon as it happened, we met with our officials in our association to discuss the situation and hopefully put some measures in place to prevent this type of thing from happening,” Martindale said.

“When something like this does happen there’s an opportunity,” he added. “It’s unfortunate it happened, but I think everything comes into play and how we can change things to learn from it to prevent it from happening again and handle things differently next time.”